An aviation bill now is just a presidential signature away from sending $12 billion and 2,000 jobs to a Central Florida center researching the future of air traffic control systems.

The Federal Aviation Administration Modernization & Reform Act of 2012 (HR 658), passed by Congress and sent to President Barack Obama on Feb. 8, will create a steady funding source for the national Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen, project.

NextGen, a $50 billion-plus high-tech upgrade to the U.S. air traffic control system, would replace the outdated ground radar-based system with a satellite-based system using technology such as GPS systems.

The project, based at the NextGen research center in Daytona Beach with a goal to be operational by 2020, is expected to create more than 2,000 local aviation-industry and technology jobs during the next eight years, including engineering and avionics manufacturing jobs.

“This bill establishes the blueprint we need for continuing our efforts of developing next-generation air traffic control,” said U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who has been spearheading the efforts for NextGen in Central Florida. “It easily can propel the whole program forward.”

If signed, the bill would:

• Prioritize $3 billion annually starting in fiscal year 2012 through 2015 for funding operations, equipment procurement, and other research and development services for the program.

• Create a NextGen governing office called the Next Generation Air Transportation System Joint Planning & Development Office that will oversee performance, efficiency and set goals to meet a 2020 full-implementation deadline. Goals would include setting deadlines for making certain aircraft electronic systems ­— like chips to help GPS systems communicate with air traffic controllers — that also would create manufacturing jobs.

• Create public-private incentive policies that would allow the U.S. government to lend money to aviation companies such as commercial airliners to equip NextGen on aircraft to help meet NextGen testing and adoption goals.

“The bill establishes a road map for us as the NextGen test bed, and it will be good to have goals for when to do testing and proof-of-concept work that eventually will allow us to better manage national air space,” said Christina Recascino, vice president of academics and research for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which is overseeing the project and working on it with other high-tech firms, including Lockheed Martin Corp. and Harris Corp.

Recascino said the bill won’t immediately create an influx of jobs related to the NextGen project, but it should green-light tests and buying equipment systems and technology for aircraft testing. She said a timeline of when that may happen has yet to be undetermined, but “now we should have set outcomes and measure to meet.”

No date has been set for when President Barack Obama might sign the bill into law.

What this means to you

• Opportunity to provide services and technology to NextGen research

• Companies can get government financing to pay for installation of NextGen testing equipment.